National Museum, Stockholm

The National Art Gallery is interesting but expensive. There are permanent exhibitions and usually one who runs the season. The collections are nice but you could live without having seen it. There are far more better Art Museum/National Art Galleries in Europe.

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Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on central Stockholm.
This was another fine building, built between 1844 and 1866 in Renaissance architecture.
Inside, is an impressive Art collection.

Nearly unbelievable that there are half a million drawings from the Middle Ages to 1900. On display is Rembrandt and a Dutch 1700 century collection, and a collection of porcelain items, paintings, sculptures, and modern art as well.

OPEN....
1 June – 31 August
Tuesday 11 am – 8 pm......Wednesday–Sunday 11 am – 5 pm. .....Monday closed.

1 September – 31 May
Tuesday, Thursday 11 am – 8 pm....Wednesday, Friday –Sunday 11 am – 5 pm. ..Monday closed.

ADMISSION...
Price's vary between 100sek and 120sek, depending on what is showing.
FREE admission with the Stockholm Card

I visited the National Museum during my visit to Stockholm in August 2003. The National Museum is Sweden's largest Fine Arts Museum with a considerable collection. The arts collection goes back to the 16th Century during King Gustav Vasa's reign to the present and this includes paintings, engravings, decorative arts, drawings, tapestries and prints.

The paintings collection consists of approximately 16,000 works (from the Middle Ages up to the 20th Century) including works by artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Goya, Renoir, Degas, Gaguin and many others. There is emphasis on Swedish paintings ranging from the 18th and 19th Century and there is also a strong representation of Dutch 17th Century and French 18th Century paintings. I enjoyed looking at the paintings by Carl Larsson.

You can find out more information including entry fees (free if you have a Stockhom Card) and guided tours on the museum's website

Hmm... to be quite honest I wasn't overly impressed by the collection of artworks at the National Museum. I wish there had been more Swedish artists in the collection, or better information to highlight the Swedish artists there. Don't get me wrong there were some very impressive pieces of artwork, I just felt that the museum was a little... empty.

Although I walked through an exhibition called 'Zorn's Men'. This is work by Swedish artist Ander Zorn (b. 1860 - d. 1920). The majority of his work was portraiture and on any scale he gives the impression of minute detail in his work without making the artworks look too busy or 'overdone'. The detail in the portraits is amazing, you can see every stroke and the simplicity of it is beautiful (even though you know you couldn't do something like that yourself :) ). The exhibition ends on the 26th of February 2006 and I recommend that if you like art and are in Stockholm to go and see 'Zorn's Men'.

Admission: free
(Although some exhibitions do cost a fee, not 'Zorn's Men' though, it is free as well)

Opening Hours:
Closed Mondays
Tuesday and Thursday: 11 am - 8 pm.
Wednesday, Friday - Sunday: 11 am - 5 pm.

This museum is housed in a monumental building on the southside of Blasieholmen. Even though the exhibition in this building is not really my cup of tea (I don't really like looking at paintings), the architecture and interior are really worth seeing.

The National Museum of Fine Arts, Sweden´s leading museum for art and design, houses remarkably extensive and varied collections.Masterpieces by Rembrandt, Renoir, Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson are displayed side by side with applied arts from earlier times and modern design.

Admission fee 100 SEK, 10 EURO

This is the second most important building in the town centre since the construction of the Royal Palace. It was designed in Renaissance style by German architect Anibal Stuler and inaugurated in 1896. The main collections in the museum are art from the 15th to the 19th century with a section dedicated to Swedish artists Carl Larsson, Zorn and Liljefors.

The National History museum was great. I really liked the gold jewellery part. It was beautiful and well displayed, and designed in such a way as to lead you into the middle where the main display was.

They could have used a few more viking artifacts, but otherwise it's well worth a visit, and is free to boot.

Here you will find all the classical Swedish art throughout times but also some international gems. As for paintings, it starts already in the entrance hall which are full of frescoes by Carl Larsson who were asked to decorate the building in 1896. There are also works by Zorn and some internationally less known Swedes. Amongst the international artists, you will find Watteau, Rembrandt, Manet and others. Just note that it is worth checking with the museum that a particular favourite work is on display at your time of visit since it varies due to the sensitivity of the work. You can check the collection in the WebArt online database found on the website below.

Sculptors like Sergel are also represented and there is a whole section on Russian icons as well as industrial design.

This is Sweden's largest art museum, and it houses many "treasures" from the history of art in it's vantage point opposite the Royal Palace.The history of the collection dates back to Gustav Vasa at Gripsholm Castle - the collection grew through purchase gift and booty of war!

Some of the collection went to Rome following the abdication of Queen Christina in 1654. A fire at the Tre Kroner palace in 1697 destroyed many other pieces in the collection.

After the death of Gustav III the collection was transferred to the Royal Museum, which opened in the Royal Palace in 1794, and this was in fact one of the first public art museums in the world. A new building was designed by the German architect, F A Stuler - it opened in 1866 and at this time the present name of the museum was initiated.